VATICAN MUSEUMS - GALLERY OF THE CANDELABRA (fourth part)

Section V
 

5 “Young girl running” so-called Atalanta Barberini classicist work of the first century BC from the Greek original of 460 BC by an artist of the circle of Pasitele or work of Hadrian's period (117/138) from original in severe style of about 500 BC

It was in the Barberini collection and it was purchased in 1772

The short one-shoulder chiton (tunic) indicates probably a female athlete during the competitions in honor of Hera in Olympia

9 “Nymph” second century AD from an original of the fourth century BC with head not relevant

It was found by Gavin Hamilton in 1769 at Hadrian's Villa and it was initially believed to be Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance

The heavy tunic with flap was called apoptygma

25 “Young satyr flautist” second half of the first century AD from the original of the early Hellenistic period inspired by Praxiteles, from the Villa of Domitian in Sabaudia

Purchased by the Vatican Museums in 1806, the statue is characterized by the transverse flute known in antiquity as oblique tibia or tybicen

26 “Ganymede or Narcissus” found in 1800 in Tor Boacciana near Ostia

On the side there is an inscription with a name in Greek characters, perhaps that of the sculptor

The child who wears only a chlamys (short cloak worn by men), has his legs crossed in the typical attitude of the statues of Praxiteles or Lysippus

32 “Little black slave with toiletry objects” second century AD from an original of the third century BC

It was purchased in 1772 and it probably comes from La Storta on the Via Cassia. The head is ancient but not relevant. The toilet articles are the strigil and a cruet for oil used after athletic exercise

36 “Baby Hercules” mid-second century AD from Hellenistic original of the end of the third century BC from the Villa of the Quintili

The act of pouring wine from a bottle is the result of a modern restoration

42 “Statue of Pan” from the original in Polyclitean style

50 “Circular Altar” second or first century BC from Tor Colombaro on Appian Way at Frattocchie

There is a scene of sacrifice in the presence of Mercury

“Two candlesticks from Otricoli” second century AD

Section VI

 

1 “Statue of Diana” Beirut-type Berlin with body and head from two different Roman copies of Greek originals: body by Kephisodotos of the beginning of the fourth century BC, head from an original of the fifth century by an artist of the circle of Phidias

Maybe it comes from the Port of Trajan in Fiumicino

5 “Statuette representing maybe Persephone” restored as Ceres

8 “Sarcophagus with the myth of Endymion” about 150/160 AD found in 1776 in the Vigna Casali near St. Sebastian's Gate

Selene descends from the chariot of the moon and discovers the beautiful hunter Endymion asleep

9 “Mars” second century AD found in 1780 at the Basilica of St. Mark's and rebuilt as a model of Mars Ultor (the avenger of the death of Julius Caesar) of the Temple of Augustus in the Forum

14 “Ganymede with the eagle” from Urbisaglia (Urbis Salvia) at Macerata in the Marche region

In 1779 the sculptor Ferdinando Lisandroni assembled it using parts of various ancient statues

18 “Statue seated with lyre” first half of the second century AD from a late Hellenistic original. It was found in 1777 in the Tomb of Cecilia Metella

24 “Niobid on the run” copy of the Hadrian's period from a very famous Hellenistic original. It was found in 1794 in the Cesarini estate in Torvajanica

It was purchased in 1804 by the Vatican Museums

27 “Milestone” of the fifth mile of the Appian Way placed by Maxentius (306/312)

32 “Persian fighter” copy of the Hadrian's period from the group of the so-called Small Attalid Votive Offering erected by Pergamum in the Acropolis of Athens as a votive offering in the second century BC

It was found during the construction of Palazzo Medici now Palazzo Madama

35 “Sarcophagus with rape of two daughters of Leucippus by the Dioscuri” about 150/180 AD. It was purchased in 1771 by the Vatican Museums

36 “Sleeping Eros” second century AD from an original of the third century BC

Some scholars have interpreted it as Anteros the negative opposite of love passion

37 “Funerary statue of Pompeia Attia” first century AD, found in 1851 on the Appian Way and named after an inscription found in the same place

The head of the first century BC is not relevant and it was added in 1800

VATICAN MUSEUMS - GALLERY OF THE CANDELABRA (second part)

Section I
 

3 “Tree with nests” largely restored in 1700, from an original of the Hellenistic production

18 “Statuette of a child playing with a walnut” from a Hellenistic original of the third century BC found in 1784 in the village Acquatraversa on the Via Cassia

The head is modern. Ancient sources and illustrations show that the games with walnuts were very popular in antiquity

26 “Gigantic toe of a right foot” found in early 1880 near the Colosseum

It has been calculated that the complete statue was about 13 m (43 feet) tall, perhaps one of the cult statues of the nearby Temple of Venus and Rome

37 “Crater with the myth of Lycurgus” about 40/30 BC found in 1863 in the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta

It represents the aggression of Lycurgus to the Maenads. Lycurgus, king of Thrace, was the enemy of Dionysus, destroyed the vine and persecuted the Maenads. Dionysus punished him by depriving him of his sight

56 “Drunken Satyr” first century AD from a Hellenistic original of the school of Pergamum, in Egyptian stone, called grovacca (greywacke), quarried in Uadi Hammamat

67 “Boy with a dog in his arms” from a late Hellenistic type

It had been completed with a not relevant ancient head which has been removed with the dog. It represent Hermes as a child

68 “Seated statuette of a satyr” mid-first century AD with additions and restorations in the modern era when the face was smoothed out

70 “Relief of Horus” first half of the first century AD with the Egyptian god depicted as a hawk with on his head the double crown of Lower and Upper Egypt respectively in the shape of a tiara and modioi

“Sarcophagus with child” about 275 AD

“Two candlesticks from Otricoli” second century AD including the No. 39 with a representation of the myth of Marsyas

Section II

 

2 “Meridian” found in 1858 in Ostia

The dial is divided into twelve vertical segments in turn divided into three horizontal bands: the first corresponded to the hours, the second to the winter solstice, equinox and summer solstice

19 and 75 “Modern Bases” by Francesco Antonio Franzoni (1734/1818) for two statues of the muses now in the Hall of the Muses

9 “Pan extracting a thorn from the foot of a satyr” from a Hellenistic original of the second century BC

It was in Villa Mattei and it was purchased in 1770 by the Vatican Museums. It was restored and in part completed in 1819 by Michele Ilari

The subject, typical of the Hellenistic period, was often used for decorating gardens

68 “Artemis the huntress” with ancient head not relevant, maybe from a bronze original of the fourth or third century BC

70 Elegant “Cup with square basin” made in mid-1800 the reworking the yellow marble from Sabina formerly used for an ancient column

72 “Sarcophagus with scenes from the myth of Protesilaus” about 160/170 AD from the second mile of the Appian Way

Protesilaus was the first to set foot on the beach of Troy and the first to die

His wife, Laodamia was given permission by the gods to see him again for a short time but then she killed herself to follow her husband in Hades, evoked here with three mythical damned: Sisyphus with the boulder on his back, Ixion chained to the wheel and Tantalus next to source from which he could not drink

22 “Ephesian Artemis” second century AD from the so-called Greek Theatre of Hadrian's Villa from the original, maybe of the second half of the fourth century BC

It was restored by Giovanni Volpato and purchased by the Vatican Museums in 1781. In this version Diana was called Lady of the Animals symbol of the fruitful nature and abundance

According to Filippo Coarelli, the alleged breasts, that actually show no nipples, are in reality the scrotums of bulls, symbols of fertility

28 “Sarcophagus with scenes from the myth of Orestes” about 160 AD formerly kept in S. Maria in Aracoeli, then in the Palazzo Barberini, and eventually purchased by the Vatican Museums in 1772

Orestes kills his mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus to avenge the murder of his father Agamemnon. Pursued by the Furies for what he had done he goes to the Temple of Apollo at Delphi to purify himself

40 “Modern basin supported by three Sileni” with two Sileni found in 1789 in the Villa dei Quintili and the third made in 1790 by Ferdinando Lisandroni who also assembled the group

83 “Ganymede and the eagle” used as a table leg, second century AD copy from the original by Leochares of mid-fourth century BC

“Two candlesticks from S. Costanza” early second century AD